"My results or rather my performances no longer satisfy me" - Tour and Vuelta stage winner, Lilian Calmejane, wraps up his professional career

Owner of 12 professional victories, including a stage at both; Tour de France (2017) and Vuelta a Espana (2016), Lilian Calmejane has decided to pull down the curtain on his cycling career. Once a prospect of French cycling, Calmejane rode a good career, but after the covid out-break, he couldn't really regain the momentum he once had.

"In life, there are chapters that are more or less exciting. The one I started writing when I arrived at Vendée U at the end of 2013 intoxicated me from the first lines. The end, because yes, every chapter ends, is more bland but not without flavor."

"To be honest, frank and transparent, I no longer find my place in the World Tour peloton," Calmejane confesses. "Of course, cycling has changed radically in a few years but I want to say that it is my vision of high-level cycling that has changed. For a few years now, I have felt cramped and less fulfilled. My results or rather my performances no longer satisfy me."

"As a kid, I would never have imagined for a second that I would become a professional cyclist and even less that I would win stages on the grand tours and in particular the Tour de France. My dreams were achieved very early in my career and this has surely been a disservice to me in terms of motivation to have a more extensive track record. However, I am very proud of what I have been able to accomplish and of the resilience that I have shown these last 4 seasons in particular."

Finally, Calmejane hints that we will hear his name again soon enough, as he certainly has no plans of leaving the sport of cycling for good. "As you will have understood, I am happy and relieved to close this chapter and I look forward to starting another one. My appetite is gargantuan and I intend to pursue my dreams, accompanied by my loved ones and the people I love," he concludes.